“In sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth?”

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on CSR Activities of Healthcare Providers

(1) Background: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is important for every company that cares for sustainable structures. Healthcare providers especially have made social responsibility their goal. However, crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic impacted different activities within the healthcare sector including CSR and its monitoring. However, theory-driven CSR research within the healthcare sector is scarce and monitoring requires a structured understanding of the processes. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the CSR practices and activities which healthcare providers have implemented in an exemplified country namely Germany and the effect of the pandemic in this process. (2) Methods: Participants were sampled based on their field of care (general, psychiatric, or rehabilitation), the type of organization (public, private, or non-profit), and group membership. A total of 18 healthcare providers were initially recruited, out of which nine participated in the interviews. They represent companies with yearly revenue of between EUR 110 million and EUR 6 billion, and have between 900 and 73,000 employees. (3) Results: CSR-related activities were postponed due to times of crisis. There was a necessity to rapidly digitalize processes. Frequent and precise communication turned out to be important for keeping employees' well-being, motivation, and satisfaction levels high. Environmental efforts were counteracted by new hygienic requirements and a shift in priorities. Many study participants expressed the hope that after the pandemic, newly established methods, processes, and structures (e.g., digital meetings, quicker and more inclusive communication) would be maintained and developed further. (4) Conclusions: The pandemic has been challenging and at the same time, these challenges also created opportunities to strike a new path using the learnings to overcome future health-related or economic crises.

Impact of Management Tools Supporting Industry 4.0 on the Importance of CSR during COVID-19. Generation Z

Taking into account the impact of the COVID-19 and adopting the assessment optics of students from Generation Z currently entering the labor market, we have made the aim of this article to provide better insight into the relationship between Industry 4.0 and corporate social responsibility. The survey was conducted in the form of an online survey in two leading universities in Poland in the field of economic education. 646 students took part in the survey. The data were analyzed using logit regression models. The results of the study suggest that the increase in the use of management solutions supporting Industry 4.0 in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis will increase the importance of the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of corporate social responsibility. Pointing to the forecasted increase importance of corporate social responsibility, we suggest linking management solutions supporting Industry 4.0 with corporate social responsibility. However, we also draw attention to the impact of individual management solutions supporting Industry 4.0 on specific Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) dimensions.

Taxonomy of organizational alignment: implications for data-driven sustainable performance of firms and supply chains

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify, characterize, classify and conceptualize different perspectives on strategic alignment still in use, propose a taxonomy and definitions that allow understanding the various coexisting concepts, as well as investigate the implications of strategic alignment for data-driven sustainable performance of firms and supply chains.

Design/methodology/approach

Bibliographic review was used.

Findings

The taxonomy proposes two classes of strategic alignment: (1) Align – more rigorous types of alignment: structure alignment, strategic congruence and strategy alignment; (2) Fit – less rigorous types of alignment: contingency strategic adjustment, strategic coalignment and strategic consistency. Companies are accumulating large amounts of data, which relevance varies widely. The strategic alignment can define criteria to select only the data that have strategic value, which restricts the amount of data to be analyzed. Each of the six types of strategic alignment is appropriate for a given situation in companies and/or supply chains.

Research limitations/implications

The limitations stem from the exclusive use of the taxonomy of strategic alignment, without considering the most diverse perspectives of strategy.

Practical implications

Decision makers will be able to identify more objectively which classes of data should be explored in each situation.

Social implications

Theoretical implications – The taxonomy proposal and the definition of each of the strategic alignment perspectives solve generalized misunderstandings resulting from the lack of a clear delimitation between the perspectives and the conceptual divergence between authors, who use them as equivalent or synonymous.

Originality/value

From 1961 to 2019, no paper was found proposing taxonomy, typology, systematization, ranking, distribution or classification of strategic alignment. The strategic alignment can define criteria to select, within the large amount of data accumulated by the company, only those that have strategic value, what restricts the quantity of data to be analyzed and facilitates the decision of the leaders.